The Framers Forum

I have had a couple of frames that i did for clients come back to me

they are in the shop window where they are being sold

within 2 or 3 weeks there is a noticeable amount of condensation inside the frames

I think its to do with a change in temperature, ie very cold at night, then warming up with sun and heating during the day

would i be right thats whats causing it

Unless the area is particularly damp you have to be looking at the moisture content of the mountboard/print/watercolour before it goes into the frame?.........depends where you keep your materials or where the artwork has been stored........only seen this once before and the window had a leak, the carpet at the base was damp and the picture must have absorbed(sp) some of the moisture.
Maybe try a known good piece in the same place to see what happens?

Good luck

I've had this happen when it's been a sunny day and I forgot to pull the blinds down. Fortunately I just got beads of moisture and no runs, so I didn't touch the picture and it when back to normal in an hour or two.

A couple of weeks ago a lady, for whom I had framed a item of crewel work in a firescreen, phoned in a panic saying that she had cleaned out the fire, re-laid it, replaced the firescreen then gone to do some gardening. Problem was that she had left a couple of embers in the fire which had relit and was burning away merrily when she returned. Fortunatly, the firescreen did not catch fire but from the evidence when she brought it back it was very close. The inside of the glass was completely covered in condensation fortunately very little had transferred to the crewel work even though it was some distance away from the glass.

Bit of a close shave but of course I think this example demonstrates that condensation forms with significant changes in temperature as well as sunlight.

A few years back I was concerned about the humidity in my workshop so I got a thermometer/hygrometer. Its just a little digital thing that displays the temp and the humidity as a %.
It certainly put my mind at rest seeing my workshop didn’t have the humidity of a tropical rain forest!

With regards to your problem frames, the one thing that will, without doubt cause humidity is a constant change in temperature from hot to cold.

If it was me I would get myself a thermometer/hygrometer just to see what the conditions are in your workshop.